Apocalypse Rising (Book One)

The Empty Child

Rose squeaked when the TARDIS started to shake, and she ran back to the console room to see the Apocalypse frantically moving around the console. "What's wrong?" she asked, running over. "What's the emergency?"

"It's mauve!" was the only response.

"Mauve?" Rose repeated.

"It's the universally recognized color for danger," the Apocalypse explained before ducking around to check something else.

"What happened to red?"

"That's just humans," the Apocalypse brushed off, flicking a switch with her telekinesis. "By everyone else's standards, red's camp." She shook her head. "All those misunderstandings, all those red alerts, and all that . . . dancing." She cleared her throat. "Anyway, it's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go."

"And that's safe, is it?"

"Totally," the Apocalypse replied. A little quickly. That was followed by a bang on the console, and she jumped. "OK, reasonably!" she corrected, quickly dashing around. "All right, I should have said reasonably there!" She blinked as she looked at the monitor. "No, no, no, no!" she shouted, banging the top of it. "It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us!"

Rose joined her. "What exactly is this thing?" she asked.

"No idea," the Apocalypse admitted freely.

"Then why are we chasing it?"

"It's mauve, it's dangerous, and I don't know about you, but I don't want to see it crash in the center of London in thirty seconds. What do you think?"

***

"Why is it always Earth?" the Apocalypse asked as she headed out the door, Rose behind her. "Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?"

"Five days?" Rose teased. "Or is that just when we're out of milk?"

"It seriously has to come out of a cow," the Apocalypse muttered, shaking her head before looking around. "Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago." She checked her watch. "Maybe a month."

Rose looked at it. "You're always wearing it," she said.

The Apocalypse cleared her throat. "Yeah," she agreed. "Reminded me of the Doctor." She held it out, and Rose could see the circular script on the face. "Circular Gallifreyan," she explained. "Ever since the War, I've never taken it off."

Rose swallowed. "I didn't know." She shook her head. "But really, a month? We were right behind it!"

"It was jumping time tracks all over the place!" the Apocalypse protested. "We're bound to be a little bit out! Do you want to drive?"

"Yeah," Rose replied with a grin. "How much is a little?"

The Apocalypse made a face. "Ish."

Rose smirked. "What's the plan, then? Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?"

"It hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask."

Rose squinted at the psychic paper. "Doctor Caly Tyler, Ministry of Asteroids." She smiled at her fondly. "My last name?" she asked.

"I am your sister, aren't I?" she asked jokingly, and Rose hugged her tightly. The Apocalypse chuckled, hugging her back.

The Apocalypse nodded towards a door that said "Deliveries Only." "Sorry."